The Big Picture - Macrohistories

Whereas microhistories zoom in on a topic, putting it under the microscope to study every detail from every angle, macrohistories zoom out. These are the "big" histories, the very long view, studying the past on a grand scale. Macrohistories do not focus on the individual, but on whole civilizations, and changes over centuries, even millennia. If you are a "big picture" person, these are the books for you!

Updated July 7, 2026
S
Saskatchewan Information & Library Services Consortium Regina Public Library
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Cosmos
Sagan, Carl
Paper Book
Renowned astronomer Carl Sagan's classic bestseller that "dives into the past, present, and future of science, dealing with the mind-staggering enormity of the cosmos in which we exist" (Associated Press)--with an Introduction by Ann Druyan and a Foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson ...
The dawn of everything : a new history of humanity
Graeber, David
Paper Book
For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike - either free and equal, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow...
Guns, germs and steel : a short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years
Diamond, Jared M.
Paper Book
'A book of big questions, and big answers' Yuval Noah Harari, bestselling author of Sapiens Why has human history unfolded so differently across the globe? And what can it teach us about our current crisis? Jared Diamond puts the case that...
Homo deus : a brief history of tomorrow
Harari, Yuval N.
Paper Book
**THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER** Sapiens showed us where we came from. In our increasingly uncertain times, Homo Deus shows us where we're going. 'Spellbinding' Guardian The world-renowned historian and intellectual...
Land : how the hunger for ownership shaped the modern world
Winchester, Simon
Paper Book
From the bestselling author Simon Winchester, a human history of land around the world: who mapped it, owned it, stole it, cared for it, fought for it and gave it back. In 1889, thousands of hopeful people raced southward from the Kansas state line and westward from the Arkansas boundary...
Money : a story of humanity
McWilliams, David
Paper Book
*AS HEARD ON RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK* THE INTERNATIONAL #1 BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2024 NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR A WATERSTONES NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 AN...
The new silk roads : the present and future of the world
Frankopan, Peter
Paper Book
From the internationally bestselling author of The Silk Roads: everything you need to know about the present and future of the world 'Masterly mapping out of a new world order' Evening Standard 'Frankopan is a brilliant guide to terra incognita'<...
Nexus : a brief history of information networks from the Stone Age to AI
Harari, Yuval N.
Paper Book
The story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world from the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Sapiens Stories brought us together. Books spread our ideas - and our mythologies. The internet...
The origins of political order : from prehuman times to the French Revolution
Fukuyama, Francis.
Paper Book
Francis Fukuyama, author of the bestselling The End of History and the Last Man and one of our most important political thinkers, provides a sweeping account of how today's basic political institutions developed.
Sapiens : a brief history of humankind
Harari, Yuval N.
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Bestseller * New York Times Readers' Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st Century * The Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama and Bill Gates Official U.S. edition with full color illustrations throughout. From renowned historian Yuval Noah Harari...
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty
Acemoglu, Daron.
Paper Book
A provocative bestseller that explains why the world is divided into nations with wildly differing levels of prosperity.
The world : a family history
Sebag Montefiore, Simon
Paper Book
From the master storyteller and internationally bestselling author - the story of humanity from prehistory to the present day, told through the one thing all humans have in common: family. We begin with the footsteps of a family walking along a beach 950,000 years ago. From here, Montefiore takes us...

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